This is actually the part I’ve been most scared about. Scared enough that I haven’t even let myself think about it. I still can’t feel or tasteanymana inside me, and if all my magic is truly blocked, there’s a good chance I’ve come all this way for nothing.
Of course, since the world will end if I fail, you’d think that would qualify as “my life is in danger.” That’s what I’m counting on. But my mom also offered me a way to escape to safety and I turned it down—so will I be punished for even trying to cast a spell?
(Since my magic seems to be fire-based, it would be so easy for the paper I’m holding to just burn right up in my hand, and wouldn’tthatbe a kick in the nuts! And if I try to get angry like the last couple times I used this power, it could be a real risk…)
I glance up at Collin, hoping for guidance. His lips are moving, he’s trying to tell me something, but even holding the artifact, I can’t hear what he says at all. I’m tempted to snap the damn thing shut and shove it in my pocket to reestablish our connection, but I don’t know if closing thewatch will prevent the incantation from freeing him. Or worse, throw the ritual back to a point I don’t actually have the right magic words for. Mom said there was only one way to stop this, and right now, things are perfectly set up to cast my spell. I can’t risk screwing that up.
I’m on my own here.
But I realize I don’t have to be. Not anymore.
I close my eyes and look inside for the one part of me that’s always been there. The part of me that’s never had doubts. The part of me that will doanythingfor self-preservation.
Hi. I know you and me haven’t always seen eye to eye, but we’re in this together now. I need to access my magic to save myself and everyone else. I need you to open the door to that power again. And I need you to do it safely. Right here. Right now.
I know there isn’t really an actual demon inside me, but I swear as soon as I finish, something in there gives me a little wink, pleased at my newfound trust—which, I guess, is really just trust in myself.
And then I feel it. The spark in my chest. Exactly where Stryker said my mana was supposed to be.
I immediately try to fan this little bit of magic into real power using emotion. But not anger this time—determination,confidence. Magic works if you believe it’ll work. And Ihaveto believe it will now.
There’s a hanging, scary moment where it feels like nothing is happening, where it seems I’m just as useless with magic as I’ve always been—but then my whole body fills with an ocean’s swell of energy. It’s different than the juice I got after feeding on Rafa and even from what I feltin the burning church. This is something much quieter and infinitely deep. Serene. Ageless.
Immediately, all the pain in my body lifts, and I stand tall.
Valiente’s eyes widen with alarm. I turn to face Collin, my back to the barrier, and he nods at me, his sweet face eager, excited. They both know this is it.
Not wasting a single second, I quickly start reading out loud the random-sounding gibberish Mom wrote, glancing up at Collin after every sentence-sized chunk to see if it’s working. As I make it past the first couple lines, the pained tightness in his face lessens and he starts to rise higher. After the next two, the mercury cord between him and the watch in my left hand flickers, like a candle about to go out. Then a pattern of brightly glowing golden lines begins to trace out several yards above my guy. They draw two large, even squares, rotated 45 degrees and layered to form a classic symbol of cosmic order: the eight-pointed star.
Once complete, in its center, a perfect octagon of pure brilliance ignites, and it shines out peaceful and joyous golden light. Collin reacts to its appearance with surprise, then his whole face lifts with recognition. It feels like some kind of door. The magic beyond tastes like butter and sugar. This must be where he belongs. There are tears in Collin’s eyes, but they are happy, grateful tears.
God, I so wish I could tell him how I feel right now. How he made my life into something actually worth living. That I actually think I love him, crazy as that sounds after just two days.Andthat I’ll miss him so damn much.
But that’s not possible. We’re already in different worlds—he won’t be able to hear me. And it would be selfish, anyway. I promised I would set him free, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
No regrets, Alvin. Get it done.
Blinking back my own tears, I barrel through the remaining lines on the page. These truly are words of power. Looking closer with my supernatural vision, I see each syllable I utter vibrating in the air in front of me, rune-like, echoing the golden text that was in the book. One by one, the glowing runes rise up to attach themselves along the cord connecting Collin to his prison, eating away at the restraint, stretching and thinning it. The tether becomes little more than a wisp of silver smoke as he lifts ever closer to freedom.
Collin gives his upper body a fierce shake, breaking the connection between the kids and the tentacles that have been fueling the ritual. Those siphons almost immediately connect back—we’re not done yet!—but once he’s free of the watch, once he’s through that star-like portal, they won’t be able to touch him. He’ll be saved, and Valiente’s death-god summoning spell will be ended for good.
I’m in the final section now, only a couple lines left, and he’s just under the golden door above. He turns his head, beautiful and soft with those blond curls like an angel, and we share one last tender look. I see the emotion in his eyes and realize I don’t have to tell him anything. He knows how I feel. Maybe we don’t get to be together in this life, but for a short while, we made each other really happy, and I wouldn’t change a single thing about that.
Now it’s time to set him free. This is the moment I’ve always dreamed of—using the magic inside me to do real good. Collin made me into the person I always wanted to be, and that’s more than enough to be grateful for. So, as I make my way through the last words, I don’t feel any of my usual doubts or anxiety. Instead, I’m relaxed and truly at peace.
For once, everything just feels right.
Which, of course, means the other shoe has to drop.
I just catch the barest flicker of movement. Valiente’s arm extending.
Then pain explodes as eight 9mm Beretta rounds rip through my back and out my chest. The thunderous bangs echo through the cavern and hurt my ears.
You’d think, at this point, I’d be used to getting hot lead pumped through my vital organs (the freakingsamevital organs!), but apparently that never gets old. It’s more than enough to get me to crumple forward and fall to my knees. The watch clatters to the ground as I curl up into a ball. Seven more rounds into my back follow. Then another full magazine. And then another, until finally I hear the gun clicking behind me, the last mag fully emptied into my body. I must have soaked up close to fifty shots. Valiente clearly wasn’t looking to mess around.
I crouch next to the altar, feeling like I’ve been repeatedly stabbed through the back and out my chest dozens of times with a hot barbed poker. The now familiar cold sweats and nausea immediately follow. But the serene magic still fills me, just as much as before. It actually dulls the pain considerably. And the syllables I spoke continueto resonate in the air above, which means the spell I was casting hasn’t been canceled, only delayed.
My incubus power burns up as it heals me from this latest assault, but not all of it gets consumed. My muscles stay strong. And even if I was shot a whole lot more this time, they were still just regular old bullets. Tiny little pieces of metal after I’ve already tanked shotgun slugs. After a few seconds, I’m able to breathe again. A few seconds more, and I’m able to rise. Two days ago, I would have expected to be killed stone-cold dead by this. But now I know I can handle it. Mom wasn’t kidding with how powerful we are if we feed. It’s hard not to feel invincible.
